The present invention relates to apparatus for launching flares. More particularly, the invention is related to apparatus for manually launching flares, for example, 12 gauge flare shells, safely, effectively and reliably.
Flares are well known as signaling devices, for example, to warn of distress in emergency, to signal one""s location, to provide a specific, e.g., color coded, message and the like. Various devices have been used to launch flares. These devices are often shaped similarly to hand-held pistols which include an elongate barrel and a body with a handle which depends from the barrel at a right angle or an acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the barrel.
The barrel of these devices is typically hingeably attached to the body to allow a flare to be loaded into the barrel. When in the above-described position, herein termed the closed position, the barrel may be rotated about the hinge to a second, open position where the angle of the longitudinal axis of the barrel is oriented to a position more aligned with the axis of the handle, allowing access to the open portion of the barrel that is proximal to the body in the closed position. A shell is inserted into the barrel and the barrel is then rotated about its hinge to the closed position, again aligning the barrel to a locked position where the handle is at a right angle or an acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the barrel.
A flare shell is typically comprised of tube with a primer at the base of the tube that is ignited by compression from a firing pin. The primer, for example, ignites a propellant composition to propel a flare composition outwardly from the barrel upon firing. In the closed position the primer is typically oriented to allow the firing pin in the body of the flare launcher to strike it and ignite it. The primer in turn ignites the propellant composition, which both creates pressure within the barrel to propel the flare composition out the barrel of the gun and also ignites the flare composition itself. The flare is typically fired upwards by the user and the expelled flare composition portion of the shell burns to emit a visual indicator.
Although these devices are effective to launch flares, for example, in the form of 12-gauge flare shells, they do have drawbacks. It is important that these flares be directed properly when firing. A mis-directed flare represents a safety hazard and is substantially ineffective for its intended purpose. Also, since an explosion is involved and the flare exits the barrel at a relatively high rate of speed, it was important, for example, for safety reasons, that the launching be effectively controlled to minimize mistakenly launching the flare. At the same time, the launcher should be sufficiently straightforward enough to allow a flare to be launched relatively easily.
A problem arises when a more powerful shell is used with some flare launchers. Some flare shells create more pressure during the ignition process and can thereby cause the barrel of some flare launcher to move from the closed position to an open or semi-open position during firing. This opening of the barrel position is both dangerous to the user and can cause a mis-direction of the flare.
What is needed then is a bracket that may be mounted on existing flare launchers having hingeably attached barrels to allow them to remain securely locked in the closed position.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus to securely lock a barrel of a flare launcher having a hinged barrel in the closed position.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art by reading and understanding the following detailed description and the drawings to which it refers.
The device comprises a bracket that is placed over the barrel of a flare launcher equipped with a barrel that is hingeably attached to the body of the flare launcher. The bracket secures the barrel of the flare launcher in a closed position by anchoring one or both ends of the bracket to the body of the flare launcher.
The ends of the bracket may be provided with tabs or portions that are sized to hook on to or interfere with protruberances found on the body of the flare launcher. The portions may be in the form of grooves in the bracket adapted to receive protruberances on the body of the flare launcher.
Such a flare launcher, for example a flare launcher with a typical pistol configuration, may be either in a closed position, where the angle of the longitudinal axis of the barrel is oriented to a position substantially perpendicular to the handle of the flare launcher, or, in an open position, for example where the angle of the longitudinal axis of the barrel is oriented to a position more aligned with the handle. The present invention, for example, wraps around the barrel of the flare launcher and one or both of the ends are anchored to the body when the flare launcher is in the closed position, securing the barrel in the closed position.
In the preferred embodiment the bracket is made of semicircular piece of stainless spring steel and is sized to closely conform to the shape of the circumference of the barrel. The flare launcher is placed in the open position and the bracket is slid along the length of the barrel from the end of the barrel proximal the body when it is in the closed position, towards the end of the barrel distal the body when it is in the closed position.
The flare launcher thereafter may be loaded with a flare and then placed in the closed position. After the flare launcher is placed in the closed position the bracket is slid along the barrel towards the body of the flare launcher to where the tabs or portions of the bracket engage any protuberance in the body. The bracket also exerts a spring tension force on both the barrel and the body of the flare launcher to further ensure that the two portions are secured in relation to each other.
Accordingly, although an exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown and described, it is to be understood that all the terms used herein are descriptive rather than limiting, and that many changes, modifications, and substitutions may be made by one having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Any and all features described herein and combinations of such features are included within the scope of the present invention provided that the features of any such combinations are not mutually inconsistent.